Motor vehicle frame



y 1937. F. W SLA'CK MOTOR VEHICLE FRAME Filed June 15, 1935 INVENTOR. Fnrdarzk', l7. 5146i.

ATTORNEYS. f

Patented May 18, 1937 UNITED STATES PATEN'? @FFIQE MOTOR VEHICLE FRAME Frederic W. Slack, Detroit, Mich, assignor to Chrysler Corporation, Highland Park, Micl1., a corporation of Delaware Application June 15, 1935, Serial No. 26,705 2 Claims. (01. 280-106) This invention relates to motor vehicles and will be readily understood, through the drive refers more particularly to frame structures shaft 2i to the differential 2H for driving the therefor. rear wheels It. The drive shaft 20 extends ap- One object of my invention is to provide a proximately along the vertical longitudinal midmotor vehicle frame having improved rigidity, plane 2! of frame A. 5

especially with respect to torsional stresses, while It is desirable to locate the drive shaft 20 apat the same time freely accommodating the proximately in the plane of side rails in and it Vehicle propeller shaft, body and other parts of is also desirable to torsionally brace these side the vehicle operating or located directly above a ls app a y t the longitudinal Central the frame. zone of the frame and under such circumstances More particularly I have provided an X-brace the drive shaft interferes with the torsional brac- 10 for the frame side rails which avoids the cusu y in the form o an it having tomary tunnel or the like at the center of the been found necessary prior to my invention to X-brace for accommodating the vehicle drive or i ter upt the C e O t X-braCe to Provide e propeller shaft. With my construction, the comtunnel or the like for accommodating the drive 5 ponent parts of the X-brace may be directly shaft and the vertical displacement thereof inrigidly connected at the center of the X without cident to relative movement between the rear interference thereabove with the drive shaft, driving W e s d frame The interruption body or other parts of the vehicle. Furthermore, of the X-brace to accommodate the drive shaft the desirable low center of gravity of the vehicle res l s in c mpli i n p iv f ri a i n may be preserved with my construction together of the X-brace and furthermore prevents the 20 with the customary desired location of the drive r alizati n of he d sir d m x m m am nt of shaft. torsional bracing at the longitudinal central I attain these objects primarily by depressing region o t am St u tur the X-brace at the crossing point so that the pm- I have overcome the aforesaid difficulties and peller shaft goes over instead of through the xun esirable char c eri s y pr vi n e X- brace. With such arrangement both V-shaped brace B which transversely connects the side sides of the X member may be made continuous rails ID in an improved manner without disturband welded or riveted directly together at th ing the desired location of drive shaft 20. To this center thereby affording maximum rigidity with end the X-brace B is formed with the pair of sub- 9. minimum of weight and fabricating cost. stantially V-shaped side members 22 and 23, each 30 Further objects and advantages of my invenof which has its unitary oblique arms rigidly a tion reside in the novel combination and arrangetached to one of the side rails l0, these arms conment of parts more particularly hereinafter der in pproximately at plane 2| where the apex scribed and claimed, reference being had to the of e V is fl ed at 24 in abutting a n- 35 accompanying drawing illustrating a typical em- S p Wi h ach other and rigidly directly Secured bodiment of my invention and in which: o ether by welding or by rive 5- If e ir Fig. 1 is a top plan view of my frame struethe center of X-brace B may be additionally reinture. forced by the X-member 2t welded or otherwise Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of my frame suitably rigidly secu o the laterally diverg- 40 structure, the power driving mechanism and g r of t Co p S p d embe s wheel mountings being illustrated in association 22 and 23 comprising the x-brace therewith. As will be best apparent from Fig. 2, the arms In the drawing reference character A repreof X-brace B extend inwardly and downwardly 5 sents the frame structure herein illustrated as from the side rails lil so that the central region comprising the transversely spaced longitudinally of the X-brace where the arms intersect is deextending side rails l0 which may be formed pressed so as to underlie the drive shaft 20 sufwith the usual front and rear kick-up portions ficiently to freely accommodate movement of the I I and I2, respectively. Associated with the front drive shaft. Furthermore, it will be noted that and rear kick-up portions are the usual spring the X-brace B thereby extends downwardly of 50 assemblies I 3 and [4 for mounting the front and the side rails It, the latter forming the upper rear ground wheels l5 and I6 respectively. profile of the frame structure whereby no part of In Fig. 2 I have illustrated in construction the frame structure especially in the region of the lines the vehicle driving engine l1, clutch l8 X-brace projects above the side rails for interferand transmission l9, the drive then passing, as ence with the motor vehicle body (not shown) or 55 other parts of the vehicle. Therefore, the desired low center of gravity may be maintained for the vehicle and the vehicle floor may be located relatively low and approximately across the upper faces of side rails Hi. It will also be noted that the depressed portion of the X-brace will not interfere with the desired amount of road clearance for the motor vehicle, the illustrated embodiment in Fig. 2 showing the upper portion of the X-brace center located on a level approximately along the lower flanges of side rails I0 while the drive shaft 20 at the region of the X- brace center is disposed approximately on a level with the upper flanges of side rails l0 leaving therebetween sufficient room to accommodate free vertical movement of propeller shaft 20 without interference with the frame structure.

In order to support the vehicle body and the power plant, and also to additionally connect side rails In, further cross bracing structures may be provided as desired, some of which are illustrated in Fig. 1 by the cross brace structures 21, 28, and 29.

What I claim is:

1. In a motor vehicle frame structure, longitudinally extending side rails defining the uppermost profile of the frame structure, a substantially X-shaped brace connecting said side rails, said X-shaped brace comprising oblique arm members projecting inwardly and downwardly from said side rails to accommodate the vehicle drive shaft thereabove.

2. In a frame structure for a motor vehicle having a longitudinally extending drive shaft, transversely spaced side rails defining the uppermost profile of the frame structure, and a substantially X-shaped brace transversely connecting said rails and having its central zone depressed to accommodate said drive shaft thereabove.

FREDERIC W. SLACK. 

